Distance gauge



Dec. 25, 1951 Filed Feb. 24, 1948 K. E. SUMMERS DISTANCE GAUGE vi D I 3Sheets-Sheet 1 I v eN'ro R Maw BL, 1.041;... Q4 M K. E. SUMMERS DISTANCEGAUGE Dec. 25, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 24, 1948 INVGNTTDR a fixi Dec. 25, 1951 K, E, SUMMERS 2,580,255

j DISTANCE GAUGE v F iled Feb. 24; 1948 a Sheets-Sheet 3 B (0% M, M

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Patented Dec. 25, 1951 'af ss zs's Y nIs'rAiyoE GAUGE Kenneth EdwardSummers, Peterborough, England, assignor to The Newall Engineering Company Limited, Peter-borough, England, a Br tish company ApplicationFebruary 24, 1948, Serial No. 10,363

In Great Britain February 12, 1945 I Section 1, Public Law 690; August8, 1946 Patent expires February 12, 1965 1 This invention comprisesimprovements in or relating to measuring apparatus. Itis'common practicein engineering workshops to employ sets ofblocks or slip gauges whichare highly finished and made with opposite parallel faces, the distancesbetween which vary from piece to piece in graded steps which are sochosen that by selecting suitable blocks or slip gauges and placing themtogether any desired dimension within therange of the, set of 'gauges'chosen can be arrivedat, the assembled set of blocks or gauges beingthen used asa composite gauge'ior machining' or ascertaining thedimensions of workpieces which are being operated upon. Such sets ofgauges being open to the atmosphere are liable to become damaged ordirty and their accuracy thereby impaired.

[It has been previously proposed to provide, a measuring instrument witha movable. and a fixed headstock having adjustable bolts between whichloose gauge pins of different lengths are manually placed end to end,the movable headstock includes a stationary bolt and a piston carryingthe adjustable bolt, and'a revolver head in the headstock carries other.gauge pins of different lengths which. on rotation of this head areinserted in turn between the piston and stationary bolt, contact betweenthese members being ensured by a helical spring acting on the piston,

It is one object of the present invention to provide a convenientapparatus for rapidly setting up a set of gauges to afiord a given totaldimension; it is a second object of the invention to provide for theprotection of thegauges so that they do not become readily damaged ordirty. It is a third object of the invention toprovide an apparatus inwhich the dimension which has been set up by the selection of the gaugesis obvious to the operator so that mistakes are easily avoided and it isa fourth object'of the invention to provide an apparatus which isreadily adapted for employment on and in connection with machine toolssuch asvjig borers and the like.

'According to the present invention a gaugeholder comprises incombination a support, a plurality ofrelatively movable carriers-on thesupport, a set of gauge elements in each carrier the elements in onecarrier having dimensions which increase'stepwise by a predeterminedincrernent from element to element, 'the dimensions of elements inanother carrier increasing stepwise" by fractions o'f'the increment ofthose in the first carrier and in another carrier or car'- riers "(ifprovide'dr b'y still smaller increments,

7-Claims. (cues-425)v through the same, and

meansto move each carrier so as to bring any selected gauge elementcarried thereby into an operative position in which the selected gaugeelements'of the carriers are in line, and means to cause the selectedgauge elements in the op;-

erative position to come in contact with one another so that theytogether afford an overall measurement made up of the lengths of theselected gauge elements. l e

' In the -preferred construction the carriers are rotatable about anaxis common to the m all and the gauge elements are slidable in thecarriers parallel to the aids. The carriers are rotatable by engagementwith an actuating member which is so mounted as to be slidable along orparallel with the axis of the carriers to engage any one carrier atwill.

It is an important feature of the invention that the carriers or partsmovable therewith, are each marked with a series of numbers to indicatethedimension of the gauge'element which is at the operative position atany given "time, the numbers being arranged to appear in a series at aviewing point so that the total dimension set up by the combination ofelements which are in line at the; operative position can be readilyobserved by inspection of the numbers.

{Ihe carriers and gauge elements are pre erablyenclosed within a casingupon the support for the purpcse of excluding dust and the casing isprovided with a window to show the setting of the partswithin. "Ihewholedevice maybe constructed as a unit which is adapted to fit a gaugebar such as the gauge bar on a jig borer or like machine tool and thusthe gauge-holder according to the present invention will serve for alocatingmicrometer. o v

The following is a description by way. of exam; pleof one form ofgauge-holder in accordance with the invention:

In the accompanying drawing- ;Figurei is a plan of the gauge-holder} IFigure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section Figure 3 is a cross-sectionupon the line 3-'3 of Figure 2 looking'in thedirection of the arrows.In; Figure 3 the line 24-2 shows the megalar plane upon which thelsection of Figure 2 is taken;

The gauge-holder comprises a circular casing H wh ch is formed in onepiece with a base I2 and thebas'e is adapted to be secured to a car'-rier I 3 whichcan carry locating means not shown in the 'drawin'gsuch asa hardened spherical surface anda'wedge shaped surface foreng'aging agauge bar or locator such as a series of rollers as used for locatingmicrometer heads in jig borers and like machine tools.

The casing H has two end plates l4, l5 and journalled in the end platesconcentrically with the casing is a rotatable hollow operating spindleEach carrier consists of a hub Wi ll compress the gauge elements againsttheir springs until they are all touching one another and the last oneis touching the face 41 of the cover H. In this position the anvil willbe disried irra slider 29 within the spindle which projects from thespindle at the opposite end to the knurled head and terminates in a knob30. By'

moving the slider along, the key 28 can he brought into engagement withany one of the carriers l8 to 2|. The key 28 slides in a crest bore inthe slider 29 and is urged outwardly into engagement with the keyways ofthe carriers by aspring 3! which presses on a ball 32 also 10-.

gated in the cross bore in the slider. The slider 29 is mamed with lines33 around its surface at each of the positions which corresponds toproper engagement with one of the carriers.

The flange of each carrier is bored sized holes and in each of the holesthere is slidably mounted a gauge element. The gauge elements of thecarrier IB are marked 34in the drawing the gauge elements of; thecarrier [9 are marked 35, of the carrier 20' are marked 36 and of thecarrier 2! are marked 31.

Each gauge element consists of a hardened and ground steel cylinderwhich is drilled axially through its centre so as to be hollow and ismachined on its external surface to be a sliding fit in the hole inwhich it works in its carrier. Each gauge element is grooved at one endto receive a wire retainer 38 and is also grooved on the opposite sideof the flange of the carrier to receive a second retainer 39. Betweenthe re-. tainer 38 and the flange of the carrier there is interposed aspiral spring' lfl and thus all the gau e elements are urged by theirsprings in one direction and normally the retainer 39 which en} circletheir ends abut against one of the faces.

IQf each carrier. The carrier, I8 supports a circular set of gau e.elements 34 the dimensions of which diiferfrom each other by one tenthof an inch so that the shortest element of this set is exactly one inchshorter than the longest element, The next car rier [9 supports acircular set of gauge elements the dimensions of which differ from oneanother stepwise by one hundredth of an inch; the third carrier20 haselements 36 which differ from one another by one thousandth of an inchand the fourth carrier 2! has element 31 the difference between thelengths of which varies stepwise by one ten-thousandth of an inch.

The lower part of the end cover l5 of the casing 11, namely the coverwhich is remote from the knurled head I1, is extended parallel to theaxis of the casin to provide a support 4| for a sliding anvil 42. Thisanvil is axially in line with parallel to it axis with a circular seriesor ring of 10 equal a placed to an extent which corresponds to theparticular assembly of four gauge elements which has been selected andbrought into line opposite the anvil.

Each of the flanges 22 to 25 of the car-riers 18 to 21 has a cylindricalouter portion which supports a number-r ng 48. The number-rings 48 arearranged to appear in a series below-a window 49 provided with atransparent cover- 50 in the top of the casing. The number-rings areeach eneraved with a ser o fi u s from 0 to 9 and the figures arearranged to correspond with the dimensions of the gauge elements so thatwhen a given gauge element is in the operative position itscorresponding number will appear in the window 50. Thus if the gaugeelement 34 corresponding to nine tenths of an inch is in positio behindthe anvil hank he num r 9 will appear int-he window on the number -ringof the flang 2.2.- h numbe -r ng on h next carr er il sh w, say, 0 f hgau e, element corresponding to zero hundredths (i. e, the gauge elementwhich is of minimum length on the carrier I9) is in place; similarly thenext ring might Show eight thousandths and the last one seventen-thousands; if this were the case it would indicate that gaugeelements corresponding to 0.9087 inch had been selected and were inposition behind the anvil. This does not of course meanthat the totallength of the four Selected gauge elements i 0.9087", but that theirtotal len th i 0.968? inch longer than the total of the four elementswhich are of minimum length. The four elements of minimum length, whichshow zeros on the number-rings 48, afiord when together a minimumposition of the anvil. 42 which is taken as the starting point formeasurents In Order to ensure that the elements are correctly centredrelatively to one another when in their oper tive position, each of theflanges 22 to 25 0f the carrier rings extends radially outwards betweenthe number-rings and is provided with 1D circumferential notches 5|. Aseries of four sprin plungers 52 is provided, one for the periphery ofeach carrier ring, and the spring plungers drop into the notches andcentre the pa ts Th sp in s plu ers are backed up y a cover plate 53.

I claim:

1. A gauge-holder comprising in combination a support, a plurality ofrelatively movable care riers on the support, a set of gauge elements ineach carrier and movable relatively to the carrier in a direction towardand away from the gauge elements in other carriers, the elements in onecarrier having dimensions of length which in-. crease stepwise by apredetermined increment from element to element, the dimensions ofelements in each succeeding carrier increasin stepe wise fractions ofthe increment of those in the precedin carrier, means to move each ear-vrier so as tobring any selected gauge element carried thereby into n o te Position in which the selected gauge elements of the carriers are inline, and means to move the selected gauge elements with respect totheir carriers when in said operative position to bring them intocontact with one another so that they together afford an overallmeasurement made up of the lengths of the selected gauge elements.

2. A gauge-holder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carriers arerotatable about an axis common to them all and the gauge elements areslidable in the carriers parallel to the axis.

3. A gauge-holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein the means to rotateeach carrier comprises a rotary actuating member and means upon eachcarrier engageable by said member, the actuating member being mounted onthe support for axial sliding in a direction parallel to the common axisof the carriers into engagement with said engageable means upon any onecarrier at will.

4. A gauge-holder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carriers are eachmarked with a series of numbers to indicate the dimension of the gaugeelement which is at the operative position at any given time, thenumbers being arranged to appear in a series at a viewing point So thatthe total dimension set up by the combination of elements which are inline at the operative position can be readily observed by inspection ofthe numbers.

5. A gauge-holder comprising in combination a support, a plurality ofcarriers on the support and rotatable relative to one another. about anaxis common to them all, a set of gauge elements in each carrier each ofwhich gauge elements is slidable with respect to its carrier in adirection parallel to the common axis of the carriers, the elements inone carrier having in said direction of sliding dimensions of lengthwhich increase stepwise by a predetermined increment from element toelement, the dimensions of elements in each succeeding carrierincreasing stepwise by fractions of the increment of those in thepreceding carrier, means to rotate each carrier so as to bring anyselected gauge element carried thereby into an operative position inwhich the selected gauge elements of the carriers are in line, and meansto cause the selected gauge elements in the operative position to slideinto contact with one another so that they together afford an overallmeasurement made up of the lengths of the selected gauge elements.

6. A gauge-holder as claimed in claim 5, wherein the means to rotateeach carrier comprises a rotary actuating member and means upon eachcarrier engageable by said member, the actuating member being mounted onthe support for axial sliding in a direction parallel to the common axisof the carriers into engagement with said engageable means upon any onecarrier at will.

7. A. gauge-holder as claimed in claim 5, wherein the carriers are eachmarked with a series of numbers to indicate the dimensions of the gaugeelement which is at the operative position at any given time, thenumbers being arranged to appear in a series at a viewing point so thatthetotal dimension set up by the combination of elements which are inline at the operative position can be readily observed by inspection ofthe numbers.

KENNETH EDWARD SUMMERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

